SMITHSON VALLEY, March 19, 2012 — To ensure it stays in front of exploding Internet use by its customers; GVTC is bolstering its broadband network, anchored by its state-of-the-art fiber optics network. In March, the company spent more than $1 million dollars to add another 10 gigabyte ring of Cisco ASR Routers to its Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network. The additional routers create a 31 gigabyte ring to the network that handles all of GVTC’s broadband traffic.
“This significant investment ensures our world-class fiber network will easily handle the rapidly growing broadband traffic of our customers, for several more years,” George O’Neal, vice president network operations, said. “The additional 10 gigs of capacity will help our core network operate more reliably, which improves the broadband experience for all of our customers.”
With new generations of broadband dependent TV’s, tablets and electronic gadgets in hand, consumers continue to push demand for broadband capacity. Studies from the FCC and Pew Research show broadband usage from consumers has steadily increased over the past 10 years. GVTC is experiencing the same trend. Since 2006, broadband use by GVTC customers is up by a staggering 1,368%.
“Through 2009, most of the usage spike was due to large additions of new customers, who were all connecting to the Internet,” George said. “The trend now is each customer is using more broadband than ever due to the popularity of streaming video, downloading HD movies, video calling, and other applications that require lots of bandwidth.”
O’Neal says GVTC’s yearly broadband consumption per subscriber has skyrocketed by 771%, since 2006.
“That’s equal to a customer who had been using one gallon of water to now almost nine gallons of water per day,” O’Neal said.
With an 80/20 Mbps connection available, GVTC’s fiber network delivers the fastest speeds in its service area. Studies show customers with faster Internet speeds will use the service more frequently to download movies, video and other high bandwidth content. GVTC’s additional 10 gig ring is a strategic investment that will continue to keep its customers happy as they surf the web.
“This upgrade not only benefits our fiber network customers but also enhances the broadband needs of our cable modem and DSL customers, as well,” O’Neal said.
